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Hello, it is the Fourth of July 2020. "Independence Day" or "Another Day In The Dictatorship Of Covid-19" There was a bicentennial in 1976 and Bob Hope entertained us for that occasion along with lots of stars..... No Meaningful Republican Party Opposition To DC 19, Instead Distraction With Cultural Warfare.... Burning The Muzzles (Masks) In Boise No tea to throw in the harbor this time around like 200 years ago but how about a mask burning to protest the chains we are in. The protest yesterday Friday over the mask order of the mayor in Boise Idaho...... Newsdump Update: Two...

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Johnny Depp’s “Transcendence” bombed last night as expected, taking in just $11.5 million. That’s a disaster for a $150 million movie. This is Depp’s second major flop at the box office, following the catastrophic “Lone Ranger.” And now this poses an important question: can Depp open a movie that isn’t “Pirates of the Caribbean”? The answer is No. He’s made zillions from the Disney adventure movies.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz received an eight-minute standing ovation upon his return to Texas this past weekend, despite an extended, hostile campaign from Democrats and the mainstream media to portray him as a dangerous extremist. “After two months in Washington, it’s great to be back in America,” Cruz said Saturday to approximately 750 people at an appearance in a San Antonio hotel ballroom, enjoying an eight-minute standing ovation for his dogged efforts to defund or delay Obamacare in the recent continuing-resolution budget fight. Cruz also criticized members of his own Senate caucus for ”failing to stand with House Republicans against...

WASHINGTON — President Obama is prepared to move ahead with a limited military strike on Syria, administration officials said on Thursday, even with a rejection of such action by Britain’s Parliament, an increasingly restive Congress, and lacking an endorsement from the United Nations Security Council. Although the officials cautioned that Mr. Obama had not made a final decision, all indications suggest that the strike could occur as soon as United Nations inspectors, who are investigating the Aug. 21 attack that killed hundreds of Syrians, leave the country. They are scheduled to depart Damascus, the capital, on Saturday. The White House...

The 16-year-old girl’s once-beautiful face was grotesque. She had been disfigured beyond all recognition in the 18 months she had been held captive by the Comanche Indians. Now, she was being offered back to the Texan authorities by Indian chiefs as part of a peace negotiation. To gasps of horror from the watching crowds, the Indians presented her at the Council House in the ranching town of San Antonio in 1840, the year Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. ‘Her head, arms and face were full of bruises and sores,’ wrote one witness, Mary Maverick. ‘And her nose was actually burnt...

Bass Reeves's talent for rounding up outlaws in America's Old West made him the stuff of legend. But did this former slave-turned-lawman also inspire Johnny Depp's new film? Alex Hannaford goes on the trail of the real Lone Ranger.Art Burton listened intently as the old man on the other end of the phone cleared his throat and began telling him a story. Burton had only been researching the life of Bass Reeves for a short while but that afternoon what Reverend Haskell James Shoeboot, the 98-year-old part-Cherokee Indian, was about to tell him would persuade Burton he’d stumbled upon one...

Organizations condemn the movie for using the facial feature to make a character appear more evil. Disney's The Lone Ranger is facing a fresh round of controversy over one of its characters, but this time Johnny Depp's portrayal of a Native American isn't the subject of the outrage. Instead, charities are upset that William Fichtner's Butch Cavendish features a cleft lip, a prosthetic that may have been added in part to make him appear more sinister. According to the character synopsis, Cavendish's "terribly scarred face is a perfect reflection of the bottomless pit that passes for his soul."

I think that the latest cinematic box-office fiasco, “The Lone Ranger,” epitomizes the economic and employment recovery: big stars and zads of temporary help. Johnny Depp got his usual staggering paycheck for “The Lone Ranger.” Despite Depp’s popularity at the international box office, The Lone Ranger turned in a soft performance as it began rolling out overseas, grossing $29.4 million from 24 markets for a worldwide opening total of $78.3 million. Westerns have always been a tough sell with foreign audiences. THE LONE RANGER Particularly when the film’s star wears a dead crow on his head for the entire film....

SUNDAY UPDATE: Universal's "Despicable Me 2" nearly triples the dismal $48.9 million earned by the Johnny Depp Western, posting a dazzling five-day North American debut of $142.1 million. Failing to fire off a silver bullet, Disney's The Lone Ranger posted a grim five-day debut of $48.9 million, far from enough to make up for the high cost of the Johnny Depp-Armie Hammer Western. Lone Ranger -- costing at least $250 million to produce -- marks the summer's third major disappointment after Will Smith tentpole After Earth and Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum's White House Down -- both Sony pics --...

Johnny Depp's gamble on reviving "The Lone Ranger" as a blockbuster action spectacle appears to be going down in flames. The latest collaboration with Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski opened to a weak $9.6 million on Wednesday. The July 4 holiday is traditionally soft for movie going but things should heat back up through the weekend, at which point "Lone Ranger" will be looking to regain ground if it hopes to recoup a budget estimated to be as high as $250 million.

The Lone Ranger is no match for a group of nattering yellow creatures known to film fans as "Minions." The western reboot, a P.C. affair driven by the creative team behind the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, is losing the box office battle to a kiddie sequel. And it's not even close. Despicable Me 2, starring the voice of Steve Carell and those adorable Minions, is off to a blazing start with an estimated $35 million haul today alone. The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, is expected to bring in $15 million, by comparison. The Ranger reboot...

While Wall Street updated its forecasts for the expected write-down on the movie, Disney stock rose, and Credit Suisse's Michael Senno highlighted the conglomerate's "strong setup for the long term." Wall Street analysts on Monday updated their predictions for the size of an expected write-down for Disney box-office flop The Lone Ranger and discussed the entertainment conglomerate's broader stock outlook.

You’ve got to hand it to Walt Disney Pictures. They took what was basically an extinct genre – the pirate movie – and spun the multi-billion dollar “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise out of it. Take that, “Cutthroat Island”! The House of Mouse is hoping to continue that lucrative trend of genre resurrection with “Pirates” director Gore Verbinski’s latest offering “The Lone Ranger,” a theme park-like Western grab bag starring Armie Hammer as the titular hero and -- you guessed it -- Johnny Depp as his Native American partner Tonto.

UPDATED: Universal's 3D animated event pic grosses $4.7 million, compared to $2 million for Disney's big-budget action-adventure. Universal's Despicable Me 2 left The Lone Ranger in the dust on Tuesday night as both films opened at the North American box office on the eve of the long July 4th holiday stretch. The 3D animated event pic grossed a stellar $4.7 million from 2,563 theaters, while Disney's big-gamble Western -- headlining Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer -- took in $2 million.

In a stunning development, Disney has shut down production on The Lone Ranger, the Gore Verbinski-directed period Western that was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character. Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer and the script is by Justin Haythe. I'm told this all just happened, and Disney pulled the plug because of the budget. I've heard the filmmakers were trying to reduce the film's cost from $250 million (some even say $275 million) down to $232 million. The Lone Ranger was scheduled to be released December 21, 2012, smack up against The Hobbit: An...

Maybe they'll call it "Tonto's Revenge"? Actor Johnny Depp, who is developing the movie version of “The Lone Ranger” with his “Pirates of the Caribbean” director Gore Verbinski, wants someone other than the guy wearing a white hat calling the shots. "I remember watching it as a kid, with Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore, and going: 'Why is the f***ing Lone Ranger telling Tonto what to do?'" Depp told Entertainment Weekly about the durable black & white Western TV series that ran in reruns well through the 70s. "I liked Tonto, even at that tender age, and knew Tonto was...

The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, 'Kemo Sabe, look towards sky, what you see? The Lone Ranger replies, 'I see millions of stars. What that tell you?' asked Tonto. The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, 'Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three...

I attended a screener of the Lone Ranger movie last night, the director Gore Verbinski dropped by and introduced the opening of the film. In summary (and without spoilers): The Lone Ranger character starts out as weak and naive and ends the movie as a weak and naive but now following Tonto. I struggle to remember if any of the white male characters were portrayed as anything other than evil, racist, greedy, inept, or religious zealots. Even the military is not spared; the cavalry captain is portrayed as Hollywood’s stereotypical ”General Custer” type replete with Van Dyke beard and long...

<p>After years of delays, the big-screen version of the popular Fifties show started filming last month.</p> <p>And producer Jerry Bruckheimer gave fans a sneak peek at what to expect with the first photo of Armie Hammer as the Ranger and Johnny Depp as his sidekick Tonto.</p>